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Escaping the Corporate Vortex

I recently did a talk at Depo8a Melbourne co-working space for an event which was aptly titled: Leap and the neat will appear.

I thought the general theme of the talk was worth sharing as it really summarises the entrepreneurial spirit and can also assist in removing irrational fear associated with taking the leap to pursue an enterprise. The way I see it, the truth about entrepreneurship can be broken into 4 parts.

1. Savings: I really believe that any human who wants to succeed financially and in business needs to be able to save money. It is the most basic of financial requirements to prove to ourselves we have the capacity to think ahead and delay gratification. If we can’t exercise enough self control to save, then it would be a waste of our own time to even try and start a business. And savings, or the ability to save has nothing to with what we earn. It’s really just an attitude, and even a small percentage of a modest income is enough to provide direction and momentum – some bootstrapping practice. In fact, American billionaire W Clement Stone once said this about savings: If you cannot save, then the seeds of greatness are not within you. I remember I was once told a simple life hack which is so obvious I’d never thought to do it. If we can live on half our income, we can take every second year off work, and pursue something else. A nice example of the power of savings.

While it sounds a little vulgar, the world is awash with cash in developed markets. It should be noted that once momentum is obtained, it is not that difficult to get financial support.

2. Worst Case Scenario: Ironically, we are actually at our greatest financial risk when we are an employee. The first reason for this is that we only have one customer – the employer. A big and important customer, but it’s one customer none the less. This means that all our income depends on a single source, which, if that relationship turns bad, we could quickly find ourselves in a zero income situation. This also excludes job obsolescence risk, which occurs through being a factor of production, rather than organising them.

If we do fail in market as an entrepreneur, we are very unlikely to go hungry or become homeless. The mere fact that we are both on the internet right now, can serve as a reminder that we are well resourced, and that we have people around us and infrastructure to support us in times of need. In fact, the safety net in places like Australia are significant. Social security payments for the unemployed in this country amounts to $306 a week, or $1326 a month. Yes, it would be a struggle to live on it in Australia – but it is more than the average wage in every Asian Country excluding Japan, every African country excluding South Africa, and every Eastern European nation.

But most of all, entrepreneurs returning to the fold as an employee (post startup) often come back in a higher paid gig and more senior positions. Given they know how to sell a story of learning. This happens because they arrive with new skills most employees simply can’t get while working for someone else. I know, because I have been this person.

3. The 2nd Best Time: We’ll always be able refer to when it was, or when will be a better time to take the leap into startup land. So maybe we should just embrace the fact that the second best time is now. That now is as good a time as any. This can help us jump the psychological hurdle, but in reality there actually has never been a better time than right now. Never in before in history has it been this cheap and easy to build something, and connect with an audience. The weird wired world allows us to connect with like minds as never before. To build stuff people could never get before and use free commercial platforms the world has never had. The long tail of the internet is demanding our ideas, content and products. Add to this the ability to outsource and brand build and I really can’t see why anyone with the intention to start a business would delay it.

4. The Human Code: To be an entrepreneur is an essential part of the human experience. The evidence is in the real definition of the word itself. The actual translation is not about business, but literally, one who undertakes (some task), equivalent to entrepren ( dre ) to undertake (< Latin inter + prendere to take, variant of prender). It’s about starting, to trying and doing. It doesn’t say, make money, or get rich, and it certainly doesn’t say ‘don’t fail’. It says start. And this is what humans are all about. About trying new things, travelling across oceans to new unfound lands across the globe. It’s the reason why we humans live on every corner of the globe. Everyone of our forefathers left the human birth place of Africa (unless you’re reading this in Northern Africa) to find a better life. Entrepreneurship is in our DNA.

Let’s go beyond how we got here, and look around the room your are sitting in right now. Everything around us is the work of entrepreneurship. The technology, the chairs, the floor, the roof, the building you’re in, the clothes you’re wearing, the paint – whatever is where you are right now excluding dirt, air, sky and trees. All this is the result of entrepreneurial action. And we should be both thankful and proud.

It’s time to escape the corporate vortex. Our fore fathers are calling us.